Protesters disrupt Hunters View groundbreaking

About a dozen loud protesters interrupted today’s groundbreaking of Hunters View, one of the worst public housing projects in the country that’s finally due to be completely remade by 2015.

While most of the program was warm and sunny – in both weather and attitude – big wigs speaking toward the end were nearly drowned out by the protesters who demanded construction jobs for residents. Police officers were out in force and told the protesters to quiet down, but made no arrests.

Jermaine Jackson, 20, said he was born and raised in Hunters View and has applied to work on the rebuild four times but has never even been granted the courtesy of a return phone call.

“They don’t answer,” he said. “They don’t call me back or nothing, and I never find out why.”

Mayor Gavin Newsom promised years ago that Hunters View residents would get construction jobs on site. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and CityBuild, a program that trains city residents in the construction trades and helps get them hired onto city projects, have been leading the charge.

Fred Blackwell, executive director of the Redevelopment Agency, said 30 percent of construction hours worked so far (or 3,243 hours) at Hunters View have been worked by Hunters View residents, and that if you add in Bayview residents, it brings the total to more than 50 percent of hours worked.

But to qualify, the residents have to be trained, be current on their rent and have their names on the lease which could explain why some aren’t qualifying.

Terrance Silas, 46, is a Hunters View resident who went through CityBuild training and has been working on the site for the past six weeks. He said some Hunters View residents don’t have the work ethic needed to follow through on the training and do a good job at work.

“If you know you have to be on the site at 7 in the morning, you should be there at 6:30,” he said. “If they followed protocol, a lot of these brothers would be working.”

As for Newsom, he dismissed the protest as just another example of “chronic opposition up here” to any changes proposed by City Hall.